FBI Warns of Phishing Attacks on EPPICard Users

Phishing, which is now a year-round activity for cyber-criminals, refers to the use of official-looking Websites where personal information is stolen from unsuspecting end-users. In its latest form, the con artists called phishers are aiming attack on users of EPPICard - a kind of debit card, which provides child support compensation in Illinois and 15 other US states.

According to FBI, people have reported that they received e-mails telling them that their account had some problems. The messages directed the recipients to click on a given link to provide their account details to rectify the problem. But this link actually diverts the recipients to a fake site where personal information like PIN and account number is captured.

Moreover, people have reported that they received e-mails requesting them to fill in an online questionnaire as a part of a survey. But at the end of survey, users are asked to provide their EPPICard account details to credit funds as a gesture of appreciation to their participation in the survey. Naturally, by providing the details, criminals are able to hack into the users' account.

An Illinois citizen Kelly Foster who became a victim of the EPPICard scam said that everything was running fine until a day when she found that her account showed a much lower balance than expected. Somebody from Romania was accessing her EPPICard account and swiping money from it, as reported by NBC5 on July 14, 2008.

Nevertheless, the organization that takes care of EPPICard in Illinois said that it reimbursed Foster's lost funds and also issued fresh account numbers to all the victims. Despite that, the company defended its safety arrangements denying a security breach, saying that it was simply a random e-mail endeavor to trap some EPPICard users.

However, EPPICard providers indicated that they weren't associated with any online survey and do not for personal information over e-mail.

Meanwhile, Richard Kolko, Special Agent, Washington-DC said that citizens are being alerted so that they could avoid the scam. He also said that any such scam message received should be forwarded to IC3, as reported by TheConservativeVoice on July 2, 2008.